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'Gaucho Dialogues' book launch at Canning House

On Tuesday 23rd January, Canning House was delighted to host the launch of Alfredo Behrens' latest book, Gaucho Dialogues on Leadership and Management. Alfredo Behrens is a public speaker, author and lecturer who has held positions in business schools around the world. He currently lectures on cross-cultural leadership at FIA Business School in São Paulo. He was joined for discussion by Richard House and Simon Commander, experts in leadership with inside knowledge of Latin America. The event was chaired by Cristina Cortes, Chief Operating Officer of Canning House.

Photo credit: Burning Films Ltd

Gaucho Dialogues on Leadership and Management addresses the question of why Latin America lags behind its North American neighbour in terms of productivity, through a dialogue between two fictional gauchos, cowboys from the pampas.

Richard House, who wrote the foreword to Gaucho Dialogues, described the book as "magical realism meets management theory", while Simon Commander emphasised that this is a management theory book like no other.

Photo credit: Burning Films Ltd

In his presentation of the bookDr Behrens took the audience on a whirlwind tour of the history of Latin American leadership, from the Spanish and Portuguese colonial models to the organisation of today's samba schools in Rio de Janeiro, via Panama's separation from Colombia and Mexico's fight for independence. He outlined the importance of understanding the culture on the ground, as a partial explanation for the frequent failure of the North American managerial system in the region.

The question as to what Latin America's new managerial script might be was addressed in the discussion with the audience, but remained open. 

Gaucho Dialogues is available to purchase online.

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